Laser Forum Thread lockages.

[DaFiend]

I've just done a count on how many threads have been locked since the laser forum was split from the electroluminescents/hybrids/headlamps section . There are no less than 30 threads that have been locked since about the start of january.Probably works out to be atleast an average of one a day. C'mon guys, this just isn't acceptable. Yes, some are honest mistakes, but some most are locked because the rules have been just plain been broken.

Really guys, we need take a good hard look at ourselves, re-acqaint ourselves with the rules and try and behave better, and be more considerate of others. If things keep up at this rate, this laser forum is going gone in no time. Its becoming a headache for the Admin/Mods. i just wanted to get this off my chest. I don't want this forum to be closed.

I don't know if this in the appropriate place to post this, but considering some of you guys seem to have no intrest in the rest of CPF, its the only way your going to read it.

Apologies to the Mods/Admin in advance if this an inaproppriate post....... (it would be ironic if i managed to get this thread closed wouldn't it??)

 

[LaserMod]

*Agrees*

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/au.gif

 

[B@rt]

DaFiend, you hit the nail on the head! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
A little common sence goes a long way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[K-T]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif

It's the members of CPF, especially these frequenting the laser forum to show the needed responsibility towards handling lasers and getting a distance towards those kind of news we all don't want to read - a little common sence always helps. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[liteglow]

it`s my right to shine a laser up in the air!
So if i want to show people that i have done it (with pictures) then i do it !!
But i sure dont do it here anymore ....

 

[Kiessling]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

DaFiend, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

bernhard

 

[DaFiend]

Thanks guys. it was just something i wanted to get of my chest. hopefully we can go atleast a week without a lockage. lets make it a goal huh? then go for 2. I admit i may been a culprit on occassion or 2. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

I know sasha is is probably still fuming from some of the events of the last week or so.....

 

[Quazar]

Well said. Lets all try and be a little more responsible.

 

[14C]

Liteglow...it is not your right to "shine a laser up in the air" and if you do not understand that then you need to read some of the posts concerning safety, common sense and law. And if you still think it is your right to do what you want regardless of the information available to you then you need to do it without posting here that it is your "right". But it is not judicious and possibly not legal.

A good many people here have seen that there are potential problems associated with the use of the available lasers and have moved to address the problems the may encounter here on CPF due to the nature of the forum and the responsibilities of the owners and the admins and the potential problems that could accrue to individual owners of lasers and laser hobbyists in general because of ignorance of the extant laws or ignorance of the potential of the available laser systems handheld or otherwise.

I see that there are several people here that are beginning to take an "ownership" interest in this forum and who are willing to understand the responsibilities involved in owning something that must be regarded as much more than a toy.

Please pay some attention to them.

 

[2dim]

I thought that hi-power laser pointers were primarily intended to point out star constellations, which of course means "shining them up in the air"...

Aircraft have lights and are therefore easily avoided.

 

[14C]

There are laws that require permission to point a laser used outdoors above the horizon or into unterminated space.

The power levels are a factor in this.

There were regulations when the military was using infrared lasters for trackng inbound
aircraft 25 years ago. There are more regulations today.

There are regulations on the use of lasers of any wavelength in free space and they start with the Federal regs and also vary by state.

Astronomers are not exempt but I will bet that a few are P.O.ed by the circumstances they now find themselves in.

 

[liteglow]

14C : Dont missunderstand me here !
I respect the rules of CPF very well /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif This forum is great, and i will not stop that.....

What I say is that I (<--me) can shine a 5mW laser up in the air.. (ofcourse not if i hit a plane\flying car) and its leegal.

I just think it`s bad\sad that i cant show people the beutiful pictures of a laser used outside /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
That`s why i continue to use other forum that allow me to do that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I respect the rules of CPF, anyway i think they are some (hard?) maybe... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Kiessling]

liteglow, do so quietly without telling us every now and then, please /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif ...
bernhard

 

[waspfarmer]

Don't be silly! (Rant to follow) On The First Day God created Light. Yada yada yada..., so on and soforth. Light has always 'escaped' or 'infiltrated' at "God's" 'Will'... That is, until 'techno-us'. (Way to go God!). Bloody humans..! Well, now we Earthbounds have started to put the First Day right there in one dimension, boing! Give us time to realise the power of the First Day... yada yada...

 

[waspfarmer]

Do you really think that we're worryied about wee green pointers??????? But yes we are sir..

 

[14C]

Liteglow, I did not intend to rag on you and I hope it was not taken that way. That said, there are regulations governing the use of lasers that I know of in the U.S. and in the U.K.. Most include the prohibition of unterminated lasers. The meaning termination can be found with a search here or a thorough reading of dozens of pages of regs - (which might be a good exercise for all of us) and the reason I bring this up is the publicity surrounding events of late regarding lasers. Specifically the lasing of airplanes. While I tend to agree with most of the analysis of the incidents and believe that most of the publicity is sensationlistic the fact remians that there are laws that govern the use of lasers and it is a little like speeding in a car if I may make be permitted an aanalogy:

If you break the law by speeding you are not necessarily hurting anyone..unless your speeding causes or contributes to an accident. If you are caught speeding you will be ticketed. If you cause an accident while speeding you will be held accountable.

If a group of people drag race then they are breaking the law and everything will be alright for them and any spectators unless they are caught and prosecuted or unless there is an accident and someone is hurt or killed. The penalties are likely to be worse in the case of someone performing an illegal activity such as drag racing.

Speedng on the highway is just to routine to brag about.

Bragging about being at an illegal drag race WILL draw attention.

Shining an unterminated laser into the air is not only unwise..in many places it is illegal and just looking for airplanes will not protect someone in the case that they do not see one and an incident happens. However unlikely it is that a handheld laser pointer is able to harm someone on the ground or in the air there are people and agencies that will pursue the users who violate those laws and recently there have been quite a few incidents that have come to public attention.

I am sure that you use discretion in your use as do all of the other people here who have lasers.

If you are talking in an airport and say you got drunk the night before and use the word "bombed" to talk about it...loudly enough...you will have an unpleasant experience...and the people with you may also.

I know you respect CPF and the people here and it is not my job to be an admin or a *&^%breaker and I hope that I am not being that way in your eyes. I just wanted to try to save someone a bit of grief.

I hope I did not come off in the earlier thread as a jerk and I hope you enjoy playing with the "toys" as much as I do.

 

[waspfarmer]

Then God said "Let there not be a speeding of self" nor the experience of unaturally exadurated G-force, lest there be a grand crushing, or the Big Dipper... Sorry 14C Absolutely the laws governing at present are carefully, and with debate, designed to protect us as a whole. "Lines" must be drawn in law to protect us as a whole, especially for people like me. I speed I pay (I sped, I payed). I lase, I pay (would'nt do that, won't pay). I try to focus sunlight on ants with a convex lens, (didn't pay, but feel awful). I spout off like this, (you'll never hear from me again, but you keep hearing from me again and again..and again). I think it's enevitable that irresponsible people will have access to relatively powerful visible wave-length lasers (they already do), kinda like handguns. Have you ever aimed a handgun at an airbourn girraffe? I think more irresposnsible people should have access to handguns. Can I point it at the TV?

 

[14C]

Lines must be drawn to protect us as individuals but must be crafted to protect the whole of what we are.

The inevitable is that people will cross those lines...some from misunderstanding..some from ignorance...some from willfulness.

The problem becomes differentiation.

How do you differentiate ?

Laws may be written, debated thrown out, modified or recinded but they exist for reasons.

Some might be good reasons and some might be not so good.

Regardless, if you break the law you should expect the consequense. Knowing that you might be responsible.

If someone does not know the speed limit do you keep quiet or point out the sign?

 

[14C]

waspfarmer...just an aside.....in MY world you CAN point it at the TV...and pull the trigger....I wish.

I stopped yelling and throwing stuff at the TV because I realized how stupid I looked to a girl I once dated when she spent some time explaining it to me.

Now that I know that I have no real idea how to get started back doing it again and I miss the outlet....... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Too each your own and more power too all of us so long as your religion or bullet does not come through my wall.

 

[waspfarmer]

Bloody women again! I could just point my modded laser pointer in an illegal and irresponsible way and fry areas of her retinas if only she'ld fly over on approach without expecting the beam while gasing directly at the self locating emission from my diode of wrath.... and I was really trying! Has a handgun ever been threatened to be used to inflict retinal harm by a terrorist who love/hates TV?